Why Eating Healthy Isn't Expensive/Grocery Haul

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  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    zyxst wrote: »
    eldamiano wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    eldamiano wrote: »
    "Healthy eating is so expensive", say people who would then go and spend £20 on a takeaway pizza rather than something they can make on their own from the supermarket....

    Healthy eating is expensive here. For me to buy 6 skinless chicken breast it's 30$....but I won't spend it on takeout either...

    I wait for it to go on sale for 15$ and buy 2.

    But skinless chicken breasts are not the only product considered healthy. Besides, healthy eating is just as much about quantity. There is nothing wrong with eating a burger either. There is just something wrong with eating 10 of them.

    The chicken is an example, not that she eats only chicken. I can make the same argument for fruit and veg where I live. I'd guess 80% of the produce in my grocery stores is imported (brought over via ferry). Higher food prices (along with other products) are a price I pay for living on an island. I've figured out ways to eat "healthy" within my budget and living circumstances. It certainly won't meet most people's idea of "healthy" but it works for me and mine.

    exactly...healthy foods here are more expensive. ATM pork is pretty inexpensive as is chicken...beef is awful..

    fruits and veggies same thing. We buy frozen. My point is that not everyone lives where you can eat cheap.

    My grocery bill last week was 205$. For 1 week...for 2.5 people. That is a normal week for me.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    CoffeeNCardio wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    salembambi wrote: »
    oh look a thread of someone declaring its easy to eat healthy and totally cheap cause they can do it in their area , with their income, education & access to stores, congrats

    Unless you're referring generally to Privilege, I'm not seeing how education is relevant. Any formal education I may have had on nutrition was in junior high Health class in the 1970s. Formal education has helped me think critically, but it's not the sole vehicle for learning that skill, and I know plenty of people with advanced degrees who fail utterly at critical thinking.

    I think she's referring to "education" in what is and isn't "healthy" as well as accumulated knowledge (usually imbibed on us by our parents) on how to cook food without a microwave. I empathize with that, as no parent ever made any attempt whatsoever to teach me how to do anything other than heat things up. There was no 'education' on the non-school skills in my childhood, and I'm sure I'm not alone. I don't think I even knew how to make a salad myself back then (as in, not the kind that comes in a bag).

    Everything and anything I know about food outside the Hot Pockets category I learned after the age of 18, after getting kicked out, and was typically learned from observing other people's parents or by trial and error. And trial and error is where I personally found the expense in food. You burn "healthy" food, or season it badly, or let it go rotten cause you've never had fresh tomatoes in your life and you don't have any experience in how fast they go bad, one too many times, that's my grocery budget for the week and now I'm back to whatever the waffle house owner considers the "employee meal" once a day. (It's more like a snack).

    I expect to an outside observer, my situation sounds extreme, but literally everyone I know is the same save my one born upper middle class friend Morgan. No one ever taught them anything about food or how to make food or how to put food together. The nicest meals we ever had were two canned veggies (like, those yellow green beans and "new" potatoes, whatever that means) and a piece of meat (typically frozen nuggets or pre-made broccoli cheddar stuffed chicken, the frozen kind). And that doesn't sound bad, it was not that bad, but it doesn't exactly lend you the knowledge you need to buy cheap food. Cause, end of the day, the cheapest foods dollar for dollar are the meals that take prep. And prep is something you have to be educated on. It's not just heating up stuff anymore.

    I did get a good background in what was healthy food from my mother, but unfortunately she didn't teach me how to cook. Thank goodness I got a hold of a "Joy of Cooking" soon after I moved out. And internalized my gramma's favorite cooking quote, "If you can read, you can cook."
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    edited May 2016
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    elphie754 wrote: »
    I agree that this information is good, but not everything is doable for everyone. We have food budget in our house for three people (my self and two significant others) and we try to make the most of deals when we see them.

    All three of us work 60+ hours a week. Spending time to go coupon hunting is just not feasible at all. I see a lot of you say you spend time one day a week doing coupon/bargain hunting. For me to take and hour or so each week to do this would severely cut into other things I have to do.

    When I stopped eating a lot of ultra-processed foods I found hunting for the few coupons I could still use not worth the time spent collecting and using them.

    I do, however, look through sales flyers and base my shopping and meals on them.

    Agreed!! 99% of the coupons I see are for processed food. I end up using maybe one a week (I just clip the ones that go directly on my store cards). Typically it's for yogurt, paper products, and sometimes cookies/crackers I buy for the kids, but that's pretty much it. I end up not using half of them anyway because that specific item doesn't go on sale during that time anyway... so it's not even worth it...

    But here I'd be surprised if I spend more than $200 a week for the 4 of us, but my husband is stinky about taking leftovers to work, so there's that (sigh).
  • theskinnyonme
    theskinnyonme Posts: 443 Member
    edited May 2016
    Ohio here Hocking hills area and I love Kroger. Its my go to. I get coupons from them for produce and salad for my kroger card. Budget101.com also has a great ebook thats free last i checked on how to drastically reduce your grocery bill and eat healthy.
  • sarahfadell87
    sarahfadell87 Posts: 182 Member
    LOVE Kroger's 10 for 10's lol

    Sometimes they have whole canalopes for 99 cent
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    sarahfadell87 wrote: »
    LOVE Kroger's 10 for 10's lol

    Sometimes they have whole canalopes for 99 cent

    Acme does that too.

    Irks me though because you don't have to buy 10 to get that price, so that marketing ploy to make you believe that you have to is extremely annoying to me :p (I don't know Kroger though, maybe you do have to buy 10?).
  • Topsking2010
    Topsking2010 Posts: 2,245 Member
    Good post.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    ummijaaz560 wrote: »
    I think what ppl need to remember is that no one has the best of everything.

    If my grocery bill is cheaper than yours nationally, maybe your crime rate is lower nationally which lowers your city, county or state taxes.
    My grocery bill may be lower than yours but maybe gas is cheaper where you live?

    My grocery bill may be lower because I live in a city where I've got access to multiple food sources, but I also have to live on top of my neighbors, and not have that fresh country or rural air. My children don't have a safe front yard to play in.

    Yeah I may pay less for "healthy food "; whatever that means is subjective ? But I live in an inner city where car insurance is double what someone in the burbs is paying. So whose really "winning "?

    This post has nothing to do with who is winning. I'd even argue it was the complete opposite of that as the OP was trying to show EVERYONE can do this too.
  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
    MorganMoreaux wrote: »
    elphie754 wrote: »
    I agree that this information is good, but not everything is doable for everyone. We have food budget in our house for three people (my self and two significant others) and we try to make the most of deals when we see them.

    All three of us work 60+ hours a week. Spending time to go coupon hunting is just not feasible at all. I see a lot of you say you spend time one day a week doing coupon/bargain hunting. For me lto take and hour or so each week to do this would severely cut into other things I have to do.

    So it's not a priority to you- nothing wrong with that. There actually apps that allow you to create a list of your groceries and link you to the coupons, and it lets you save the list to use in the future, and you have the option of being notified when coupons are available. It takes such a small amount of time, you probably spend much more time on this forum in a given week. It only takes me 30 minutes to coupon per week, and we save hundreds of dollars every month. Because of couponing (for everything, not just food), I am no longer in a position where I have to work, I choose to work. Previously, we were barely getting by after meeting monthly obligations, now we are in a position to really knock out debt and and save for later. I guess it's all about priorities and planning. I personally want as little stress in life as possible, it's worth it to me to take the time now to plan than to simply just exist jumping through hoops having stress. Good luck to you - your situation sounds tough.

    Most of the time when I am on this forum it is because there is a lull at work. When I am home, I am barely on my phone or computer (with the exception of logging).

    You basically assumed that we are in a "tough" situation because we are constantly busy/working a lot. It's the exact opposite, and judgement/pity (that is how it came off as) was really not needed. Two of us work for the same company that has a lot of gaps in the schedule right now. We pick up the extra shifts so that there is coverage (and we both happen to love what we do). The third person only works full time part of the year so she likes to make up for hours she loses during the rest of the year.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    So much "whoooooosh" in this thread.
  • ummijaaz560
    ummijaaz560 Posts: 228 Member
    3dogsrunning wrote: »
    ummijaaz560 wrote: »
    I think what ppl need to remember is that no one has the best of everything.

    If my grocery bill is cheaper than yours nationally, maybe your crime rate is lower nationally which lowers your city, county or state taxes.
    My grocery bill may be lower than yours but maybe gas is cheaper where you live?

    My grocery bill may be lower because I live in a city where I've got access to multiple food sources, but I also have to live on top of my neighbors, and not have that fresh country or rural air. My children don't have a safe front yard to play in.

    Yeah I may pay less for "healthy food "; whatever that means is subjective ? But I live in an inner city where car insurance is double what someone in the burbs is paying. So whose really "winning "?

    This post has nothing to do with who is winning. I'd even argue it was the complete opposite of that as the OP was trying to show EVERYONE can do this too.

    You've misunderstood my point. I'm simply saying that just because someone doesn't have the direct means of sourcing the great deals the OP procured, doesn't negate the cost savings elsewhere in their budget ;which can be applied to one's higher grocery bill.
    So with a little finessing the budget you may still be able to eat healthy.
  • ljashley1952
    ljashley1952 Posts: 275 Member
    I agree that one can eat quite well on healthy food and not spend a ton of money. I do find that organic food is going to cost more, but even then, there are deals to be found. This morning I found boneless chicken breasts on sale at Safeway in the butcher's case for $1.99 a pound. I bought 3.3 pounds and after dividing it up for two people I got five dinners, and two lunches for one by cutting off a few loose pieces and cooking them up in a burrito. I found a bag of small Hass avocados for $1.99, which was 11 avocados. Trader Joe's had beefsteak tomatoes for $0.79 each, and I got 8 bananas for $1.99. A 5 pound bag of fresh carrots runs about $2.50 and a bag of celery $0.99.

    Another great way I save is buying at Winco in the bulk bins. I make my own bread and I can get 7 pounds of unbleached flour for about $2.50. I buy dried beans, soak them overnight and cook them up the next morning. When they have cooled, I put them in freezer bags and freeze them for use whenever I need them. I save about 50% on beans by cooking them myself. I keep a stock of pinto, black, red kidney and navy beans, as well as dried lentils, and split peas. I also buy jasmine and basmati rice, and pasta (both whole wheat and white).

    I have a very small pantry area and I keep it stocked with my dried and canned goods. When I find a sale on pasta sauce, tomato puree, canned vegetables, I grab a dozen. Same thing with frozen vegetables, but without a big freezer, I have to be careful how many bags I get and they are usually large, bulk bags.

    I shop at Costco, Winco or Grocery Outlet for as much as I can, and then watch sales at other stores. I buy in bulk when I can and I avoid convenience food. It has too much salt, sugar, and preservatives, anyway. Cooking from scratch doesn't have to be hard or take forever. At any rate, I just wanted to share my thoughts and some of the things I do to keep my grocery bill under control.



  • MorganMoreaux
    MorganMoreaux Posts: 691 Member
    ljashley1952 wrote: »
    I agree that one can eat quite well on healthy food and not spend a ton of money. I do find that organic food is going to cost more, but even then, there are deals to be found. This morning I found boneless chicken breasts on sale at Safeway in the butcher's case for $1.99 a pound. I bought 3.3 pounds and after dividing it up for two people I got five dinners, and two lunches for one by cutting off a few loose pieces and cooking them up in a burrito. I found a bag of small Hass avocados for $1.99, which was 11 avocados. Trader Joe's had beefsteak tomatoes for $0.79 each, and I got 8 bananas for $1.99. A 5 pound bag of fresh carrots runs about $2.50 and a bag of celery $0.99.

    Another great way I save is buying at Winco in the bulk bins. I make my own bread and I can get 7 pounds of unbleached flour for about $2.50. I buy dried beans, soak them overnight and cook them up the next morning. When they have cooled, I put them in freezer bags and freeze them for use whenever I need them. I save about 50% on beans by cooking them myself. I keep a stock of pinto, black, red kidney and navy beans, as well as dried lentils, and split peas. I also buy jasmine and basmati rice, and pasta (both whole wheat and white).

    I have a very small pantry area and I keep it stocked with my dried and canned goods. When I find a sale on pasta sauce, tomato puree, canned vegetables, I grab a dozen. Same thing with frozen vegetables, but without a big freezer, I have to be careful how many bags I get and they are usually large, bulk bags.

    I shop at Costco, Winco or Grocery Outlet for as much as I can, and then watch sales at other stores. I buy in bulk when I can and I avoid convenience food. It has too much salt, sugar, and preservatives, anyway. Cooking from scratch doesn't have to be hard or take forever. At any rate, I just wanted to share my thoughts and some of the things I do to keep my grocery bill under control.



    Great point about the flour. I do that too. I have a bread maker which does the dough for me, then I shape and cook it. Takes up very little of my time, and you can't beat fresh!
  • Heartisalonelyhunter
    Heartisalonelyhunter Posts: 786 Member
    edited May 2016
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    salembambi wrote: »
    oh look a thread of someone declaring its easy to eat healthy and totally cheap cause they can do it in their area , with their income, education & access to stores, congrats

    Unless you're referring generally to Privilege, I'm not seeing how education is relevant. Any formal education I may have had on nutrition was in junior high Health class in the 1970s. Formal education has helped me think critically, but it's not the sole vehicle for learning that skill, and I know plenty of people with advanced degrees who fail utterly at critical thinking.

    Wow, are you serious?
    Privilege is a symptom of never experiencing a hardship.Or never taking the time to educate yourself as to what it would be like. Another example is white people who say 'I don't see color' Sonetimes I'm embarrassed to be a middle class white person
  • Amerane
    Amerane Posts: 136 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    sarahfadell87 wrote: »
    LOVE Kroger's 10 for 10's lol

    Sometimes they have whole canalopes for 99 cent

    Acme does that too.

    Irks me though because you don't have to buy 10 to get that price, so that marketing ploy to make you believe that you have to is extremely annoying to me :p (I don't know Kroger though, maybe you do have to buy 10?).

    I think most stores have to tell you if you MUST buy 10 to get the 10/$10 price. For Kroger, you can buy individually unless it's a buy 5 save $5 kind of deal. BOGOs at Kroger require you to buy one at full price, unlike Publix which rings each individual BOGO item as half price. Meijer 10/$10 also don't require you to buy 10 items unless you want that 11th item free. Don't know about Meijer BOGO though.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    Amerane wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    sarahfadell87 wrote: »
    LOVE Kroger's 10 for 10's lol

    Sometimes they have whole canalopes for 99 cent

    Acme does that too.

    Irks me though because you don't have to buy 10 to get that price, so that marketing ploy to make you believe that you have to is extremely annoying to me :p (I don't know Kroger though, maybe you do have to buy 10?).

    I think most stores have to tell you if you MUST buy 10 to get the 10/$10 price. For Kroger, you can buy individually unless it's a buy 5 save $5 kind of deal. BOGOs at Kroger require you to buy one at full price, unlike Publix which rings each individual BOGO item as half price. Meijer 10/$10 also don't require you to buy 10 items unless you want that 11th item free. Don't know about Meijer BOGO though.

    my kroger rings up the BOGOs as half price for each item.
  • witcherkar
    witcherkar Posts: 138 Member
    Question. Some months, my fiance and I have only 30 to spend on groceries for the whole month. That's 15 a peice. Less than 4 dollars a week. That's less than a dollar per day for 2 people. I do if now so I only eat twice a day. Tell me to do with less than 1 dollar a day for 3 meals
  • mbdean86
    mbdean86 Posts: 38 Member
    Those are dream prices for foods. I work in the food industry though and I can tell you, that I fully agree with what bkinsey1979 stated. You have a large base of consumers, some of which are elderly and some handicapped that have limited access to transportation and the nearest store is not always the cheapest.

    Whole wheat pasta, low sodium pasta sauce and 93/7 ground beef are very expensive, with some of the rolls of meat (about 10 lbs)...regular 75/25 ground chuck being $20. Eggs average $2 unless there is a sale and with milk that's close to $4 a gallon, it's easy to understand why people would go for the cheap, fast options in terms of food.

    For comparison, you could buy the ingredients to make a lot of salad, which could cost $15, or just spend $4 for a bag of salad. Most people are only going to buy the lone bag and load up on canned seasoned greens, which are loaded down with seasonings and salt. They'll also load up on instant-meals instead of buying a bag of potatoes which could be $3 for 3lbs or the meat needed, which could cost $5.99/lb. The boxed instant potatoes are around $4 as well.

    I would absolutely love to have a freezer big enough to house all of that, but I don't. Instead, I have a refrigerator that was brand new back in 1995, which limits my space options.
  • MorganMoreaux
    MorganMoreaux Posts: 691 Member
    witcherkar wrote: »
    Question. Some months, my fiance and I have only 30 to spend on groceries for the whole month. That's 15 a peice. Less than 4 dollars a week. That's less than a dollar per day for 2 people. I do if now so I only eat twice a day. Tell me to do with less than 1 dollar a day for 3 meals

    Download the app Favado. They update their price/sale inventory Sunday's. They have the item list along with any available coupons and app rebates. Several items work out to be free, but you can query stores or a specific item or category of items and it will tell you the sale price, or if you wish to display it the price after discounts. I choose the latter as then you can easily see what works out for free. Many of the items with linked coupons are printable coupons so you can print them at your computer. You can also see bogo and 2/3 etc. If I were in your situation, I would look for 5lb bags of rice and similar, that can add a lot of bulk to meal. Potatoes are also good as they are versitile and last a while. I was in a similar situation years ago and I would buy a few bass of frozen veggies and v8 and make soup out of that and add rice. Not phenomenal but the soup was good for four days, and I would get full.
  • gemdiver00
    gemdiver00 Posts: 77 Member
    witcherkar wrote: »
    Question. Some months, my fiance and I have only 30 to spend on groceries for the whole month. That's 15 a peice. Less than 4 dollars a week. That's less than a dollar per day for 2 people. I do if now so I only eat twice a day. Tell me to do with less than 1 dollar a day for 3 meals

    Go to food pantries, eat at the soup kitchen. When I used to go to the food pantries the wait time could be anywhere from 10 minutes to 6 hours and most of that time was waiting in line for them to open.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    salembambi wrote: »
    oh look a thread of someone declaring its easy to eat healthy and totally cheap cause they can do it in their area , with their income, education & access to stores, congrats

    Unless you're referring generally to Privilege, I'm not seeing how education is relevant. Any formal education I may have had on nutrition was in junior high Health class in the 1970s. Formal education has helped me think critically, but it's not the sole vehicle for learning that skill, and I know plenty of people with advanced degrees who fail utterly at critical thinking.

    Education is definitely a factor in eating well on a budget. As we've seen in this thread, prices vary hugely from place to place and at different times of year . Even in that situation, there are definitely strategies you can use to eat the best you can on whatever budget you have available..... but doing that needs planning ahead, shopping around, using your money wisely, having transport, storage (freezer/pantry), time, energy and even the knowledge that you should be doing this in the first place.

    It's clear that most of us on the MFP forum have access to a computer (or smart device), internet, reasonable level of literacy, some knowledge and a desire to make changes, or at least to learn.

    Many people don't have those things - poor literacy rates are still a factor for many people all over the world, the ability to manage money is definitely not universal, the knowhow to plan meals for a week that take best advantage of what is affordable in your areas isn't always there. Access to a computer and reliable internet (or mobile phone receiption) and public transport is not universally available, and some areas where the majority of people have low incomes can be "food deserts" where there just aren't many options to purchase any food, let alone food that is both nutritious and affordable.

    I think it's easy to be dismissive and say: "just making excuses", but they are reality for many people, and can definitely contribute to the idea that the only way they know how to eat on small budget is to buy takeaway stuff.

    This is a pretty amazing read, though rather grim: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2012/07/30/hunger-hurts/
    They blog about how to manage on a tiny budget, and are a great example of what can be done, but I know that not everyone has the knowhow, energy or resources (physical and mental) to do the same.
  • youngmomtaz
    youngmomtaz Posts: 1,075 Member
    I am in small town Manitoba. Over $6 for a gallon of milk, $5/bag of 8 small apples, $2/zuchinni the size of my hand, $7/250gm of fresh berries, $2/lb of potatoes. The food prices some of you list is the stuff I dream about! But, if we were to buy and eat more pkgd food our bill would double. And we would not be satisfied. I find the satiety levels of a serving of prepackaged food vs home cooked to be very lacking. I bake bread and goodies for our lunches, and we are extremely lucky to grow our own beef, chicken, lamb, and turkey. Even with cutting and wrapping fees for the meat we raise it saves us so much vs buying it in the store.

    Sometimes the kids get annoyed at finding notes on the food in the fridge "do not eat this as it will be part of supper this week" or "if you want pizza on Sunday do not touch this brick of cheese". But I just remind them about the budget and hope they add it to their mental list of kitchen guidelines in the future.
  • elaineamj
    elaineamj Posts: 347 Member
    edited May 2016
    pebble4321 wrote: »
    I think it's easy to be dismissive and say: "just making excuses", but they are reality for many people, and can definitely contribute to the idea that the only way they know how to eat on small budget is to buy takeaway stuff.

    This is a pretty amazing read, though rather grim: https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2012/07/30/hunger-hurts/
    They blog about how to manage on a tiny budget, and are a great example of what can be done, but I know that not everyone has the knowhow, energy or resources (physical and mental) to do the same.

    Thank you - it was an amazing read. I've been reading more about her and her story. What made it truly inspirational was how hard the author worked to utilize every possible resource at her disposal. She didn't just cry "poor me" and spend her efforts blaming the system around her - although she didn't pull any punches about how the system affected her.

    I agree - there are many things that affect someone living in poverty. And it is not an easy place to be. So easy for those of us who have always had enough to say that it can't be that hard. That said - it is frustrating when someone's poor choices land them in a hard spot. And they blame the world around them rather than acknowledging their own poor choices.

    My uncle was like that. He was given a million opportunities and squandered it all. Every time he got into a good spot, he would spend money like water until he had none again. His siblings finally quit bailing him out and sadly, many stopped talking to him. He recently told me just how bad he had it a few years ago when he was in desperate poverty and spent many days going hungry. He recently got a huge windfall and now has a lot of money. Hoping that this time, he's learned his lesson and will be wise with it.

  • Heartisalonelyhunter
    Heartisalonelyhunter Posts: 786 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Heartisalonelyhunter wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    salembambi wrote: »
    oh look a thread of someone declaring its easy to eat healthy and totally cheap cause they can do it in their area , with their income, education & access to stores, congrats

    Unless you're referring generally to Privilege, I'm not seeing how education is relevant. Any formal education I may have had on nutrition was in junior high Health class in the 1970s. Formal education has helped me think critically, but it's not the sole vehicle for learning that skill, and I know plenty of people with advanced degrees who fail utterly at critical thinking.

    Wow, are you serious?
    Privilege is a symptom of never experiencing a hardship.Or never taking the time to educate yourself as to what it would be like. Another example is white people who say 'I don't see color' Sonetimes I'm embarrassed to be a middle class white person

    I was asking the poster to clarify what she meant by education.

    You shouldn't make assumptions about my experience with hardship.

    I didn't.
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
    ReaderGirl3 wrote: »
    endlessfall16 wrote: »
    Do you folks know and keep a budget on groceries? It's a sensitive topic in my family so I gave up even talking about it. I don't know how to respond to sayings like ... "well, we're not throwing away money. It's for the foods we eat. We're not wasting". Get this over that? "It's not the same".

    Is it also "false economy" to save on foods, only to overeat then exercise hard to "waste" the calories? Someone pointed that out to me.

    Yep, we budget $90 a week for our family of 5. This also includes things like toilet paper, cleaning supplies and laundry detergent. It does NOT cover things like pet food and eating out, those we budget separately.

    I shop mostly at Meijer, Aldi and then Family Fare (smaller, local chain that's higher priced but runs good specials here and there, and it's our closest option as well).

    We live in an area that has an amazing growing season where I can get fresh produce cheap at a local farmers market (like a grocery bag overflowing for $10), but off season we eat a LOT of frozen veggies. Meijer will sometimes get as low as .79 a bag and I buy 20-30 bags then.

    I buy 75% of our fruit frozen at Dollar Tree-bags of frozen blueberries, strawberries etc for $1. I bake with them, mix them in oats and yogurt etc. And then I buy fresh bananas and apples at Meijer. We also do U-Pick farms in the summer for cherries, strawberries and blueberries (I freeze 10lbs each of the strawberries and blueberries, to use in the fall). This brings the cost down to $2 or less a pound and it's a fun outing with the kids :)

    Bread outlets are a great option as well-our local one has the 'fancy' whole grain options for under $1 loaf (organic is $1.39)

    Aldi is where I get our snack stuff-chips, cookies and cookie/muffin mixes, box cereal, packed lunch snacks etc. I also get our shredded cheese and frozen fish there.

    Coupons are something I need to get back into-I used to be one of those crazy coupon ladies (I was buying 10 Sunday papers at one time and would walk into the store with my 20lb coupon binder oiy!), but got burned out and stepped away from all of it. Getting the itch to get back into it, at least a little bit.

    Great post OP and it's fun to see different people's shopping experiences, based on where they live!

    @ReaderGirl3 do you also use Mperks at Meijer? I find that is a great way to find even more savings, especially for things that stores normally don't give coupons and offers for things like meat and produce.
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